Category Archives: News

by Deena J. González, Ph.D., Chair, NACCS, 2023-24

Senior University Fellow & Professor of History

Post-conference updates

The Denver conference (spring, 2023) provided opportunities for NACCS to sustain its intellectual mission and its presence in communities. From attendance at the Museum, site of the noche de cultura, to patronizing locally-owned Latino businesses, the members of NACCS reflected our ongoing interest in creating spaces to discuss our communitarian, academic, political, social, and economic interests.

The above are what our preamble names explicitly as our primary purpose as an organization. With over fifty (50) years of conferences held, including in Mexico, our goal as an organization was been to create the energy we needed for our first in-person conference following the pandemic, and to exchange scholarship in its multiple commitments from mentoring to community engagement.

The ongoing goals of NACCS include the creation of knowledge as much as supporting initiatives designed for access and accessibility to formal education. One out of every five high school students in the US today is Latino/a. That number will soon reach 25%. The reality creates focus for some Caucuses and Focos on k-12/20 educational access; it means that Amicus Briefs against Colorado’s anti-GLB

Amendment 2 and against Arizona’s anti-Mexican American Studies in K-12 law advance our presence and acknowledge our expertise in this important arena required to create a pipeline from early education to advanced, higher education.

The organization, NACCS

The Denver conference of 2023 signaled our ability to return to pre-pandemic status; our conference registration was robust (see the Treasurer’s annual report/summation on the website) and our membership list rose. The membership is still below prior numbers, but if it rises again with out 2024 San Francisco Conference, we might be better able to lock in our growth and sustainability. Many academic organizations suffered a decline in memberships and registrations from 2020 – 2022 and universities also began using the pandemic modes of conferencing, in virtual space rather than in person, as a way to make up for budget deficits. Members of academic organizations rely on conferences for many things, including job interviews, unveiling new books at the book exhibitions, addressing specific organizational needs, and for in-person connections and forging life-long relationships. The collegiality that conferences assist cannot be measured, but it is an aspect of the work conducted in person and is missing in virtual spaces; similarly as part of our mission, connections and relationships to one another, given that we are often minoritized in higher educational settings, becomes an important feature of the annual conference.

NACCS relies on volunteers to stand for election to the National Board and pays two part-time positions for work related primarily to technological communications, conference planning, responses to institutional requests, and maintaining websites, pages, and the financial records of the association. The NACCS bylaws give position descriptions for these officers of the organization (www.naccs.org) Nine(9) Board members meet mostly monthly and tackle issues and required documents to pay the two part-time staff positions, to respond to requests for information about Chicana/o Studies, and to illicit support or input from the Focos (chapters) and Caucuses, as these form the body of the organization.

The critical work of NACCS is only as strong as the members in their respective Focos and Caucuses, so please do attend them and help organize local or regional events to sustain NACCS. A great deal of time on the National Board is also spent adhering to the bylaw descriptions of our respective assignments and responsibilities and to ensuring timely reporting and organization for a successful annual conference. There are many who want NACCS to do more, but without a full-time, dedicated staff or Board members who do not teach, chair other organizations or important university committees, conduct research and apply for grants and funds to support their scholarship, let alone volunteer in numerous community organizations, the NACCS officers must narrow their duties and commitments  to the pressing issues, including sustaining the organization’s working committees’ structure and helping to plan the annual conference.

The Future of NACCS

This topic is foremost in the minds of the current National Board as it is among more senior colleagues whose expertise lies in the growing intellectual field, Chicano/a/x Studies. The publications and prizes awarded to Chicana/o/x-content books, performances, and artistic production is rising and volumes emerge from many sectors, including organizations abroad who focus on Chicano/a/x Studies in such countries as Spain, Germany, Ireland, and England. The reflections of one group of senior Chicano/a Studies colleagues will lead to a published volume after their multiple meetings addressing precisely this topic of the future of Chicana/o/x Studies over time. NACCS will benefit from their collected works and ideas; concerns raised about the annual conference, the venues, the themes or topics guiding each conference, and the work of the Focos and Caucuses in proposing resolutions to strengthen the organization are important. One example from the Denver 2023 Conference that was forwarded as a resolution originating in the Chicana Caucus, and subsequently was voted on by the members of NACCS, calls for an external audit of the organization. Assuming that surveys or polls will be part of what external reviewers are likely to determine as fundamental to our health, please stay tuned to learn more about this project. The NACCS Board is also assigned an internal audit, which the same resolution required. Structuring such an audit and raising funds for an external one are next tasks being actively pursued. The future of NACCS as an organization that serves multiple roles is the driver of these action items underway and are important to our sustained efforts to keep an organization that has passed the half-century mark to remain vibrant, responsive, and central to the lives of those who practice Chicana/o/x Studies.

Important reminders

Please renew your annual membership to NACCS (membership runs on a fiscal year calendar, July 1 to June 30^th of the following year). We are calling on senior scholars and NACCS Scholar awardees to consider renewing their membership. We also ask the members of NACCS to ask for institutional support and to purchase ads in our annual program or in listing jobs for a fee on our website. Ads can include personal messages of congratulations for a promotion or a book award from another organization or from a press. Please ask your press to acknowledge your award or book release in this way.Consider accessing NACCS’ Facebook page as well for information about key dates. Most of this information, from membership renewal to conference and hotel registration, is on our website: www.naccs.org

Fall 2023, Vol. 49 No. 1

By Maria Gonzalez, University of Houston

It was exciting to see everyone again in Denver this past spring of 2023.  The ability to once again gather was a great gift.

The 2023 NACCS conference was the first conference we had an opportunity to get together again since Covid-19 shut down our 2020 conference.  After 3 years, it was wonderful to see so many NACCS members again.  I had missed the informal gatherings in the hotel lounge, the conversations in the book exhibit area, the shared experience of the plenaries and the presentations.  The diverse and sometimes what felt like endless meetings in the hotel conference rooms were actually a welcome difference from our endless zoom meetings.  I am hopeful that many of you felt the same way, glad to be in person again.

Our conference theme, “Work, Sustainability, and Resilience in the Post-Pandemic,” provided us with the beginning discussions of our field now that the pandemic maybe be behind us.  With our return to an in-person conference, focusing on how we do our work and sustain our existence represented a good place to start what feels like a new era.  The plenary panel provided excellent insights on resilience and bridging our activist work in our diverse communities.  The challenges of sustaining our work as scholar/activists as described by the plenary speakers spoke to many of us in the audience as we try to balance all the endless demands with only limited time and limited support.  But it was the real sense of joy and hope that the plenary brought to us all that will sustain us.

Many of our panels at the conference once again provided a place for our broad and diverse fields of study.  As an interdisciplinary field, crossing and including our intersectional studies, Chicana/o/x studies seems to be as vibrant and as complex as ever.  From the historical, to the sociological, to the postmodern, our panels covered the theoretical, the practical, and the metaphysical.

Many of our Caucuses and Focos finally had the opportunity to meet in person again and get organized for the following year.  I do encourage all our members to stay connected with their Focos and their Caucuses.  We continue to need leadership in all aspects of our organization.  The Foco Representatives and the Caucus Chairs have been the driving and energetic force that has kept this organization active and up to date on current issues in Chicana/o/x Studies.  If you are invited to seek a board position or other leadership in NACCS, please realize we cannot do our work without everyone making some sort of contribution.  In order to be seriously considered for board leadership in NACCS, it is the Focos and the Caucuses that have always provided those leaders.

And speaking of contributions, please let me encourage you to donate to NACCS.  As most academic organizations, we continue to make every effort to seek contributions towards the economic sustainability of hosting a conference and providing resources to Chicana/o/s scholars.  By your contribution, we can attempt to keep this a fairly reasonably priced organization to belong to and help subsidize our student members.  So, as you read this newsletter, please consider making a donation to NACCS.The next conference theme is “Chicana and Chicano Studies in the 21^st Century: The Continuities and Ruptures Within the Field,” taking place in San Francisco, April 24-27, 2024.  I look forward to seeing everyone there and continuing our discussions.

Fall 2023, Vol. 49 No. 1

By Francisco Villegas, Kalamazoo College

I write to you with a cautiously optimistic outlook. For many years we have talked about NACCS being in a precarious financial situation, and this was particularly highlighted in the difficult years of 2020-2022. We recently held a conference where we could finally be within each other’s vicinity, and despite the many uncertainties, we in the Board considered it a success. Given the roots of our organization, as well as our collective politics, we ought to recognize the labor that went into maintaining NACCS in a viable position. I would like to thank everyone who made sure that we maintained a sound financial position and who facilitated a platform from which to continue building, mainly our past treasurers Chalane Lechuga and Ernesto Colin. 

I recently completed the accounting for the 2022-23 fiscal year. I would like to thank Julia Curry Rodriguez as well as Kathy Blackmer Reyes for their assistance in pulling reports and helping me account for every cent that came in, or was spent by the organization. You will find the report attached to this write up, but please allow me to share a few important points. Firstly, our membership number rose by about 30%. From 209 members the previous year to 271. While this number pales in comparison to those pre-pandemic, it is a big step in the right direction. Overall, we had a mildly profitable conference which, coupled with all other revenue making endeavors, allowed us to cut down on the debt accrued. The net worth of the organization, considering all debts, was reduced from a working deficit of $23k to ~$11k. To be clear, our bank account has never dipped into the negatives. We have instead maintained conversations within the Board about the amounts that we can pay towards the debt. While it is concerning to be working with a negative net worth, I find these numbers encouraging in two ways: 1) we continue to ensure the payment for the labor of running the organization and 2) with a strong showing next conference, we could be in a positive net worth.

As part of our work at our financial meeting, we looked through the year’s invoices and sent reminders to all that remained unpaid. All have been settled. Thus, while officially we finished the year in a stable financial position with a checking account balance of $39,344.94, the current bank account stands at $44,988.73 with $10,000 to be deposited via credit card payment. Given the date of the deposits, the report stands as presented. I only provide this as additional information in my yearly report as treasurer and as additional signs of a positive outlook. 

The Castañeda Prize investment also remains in good standing. It is currently valued at $38,521.65 and sits within a “socially responsible investment portfolio.” It has received an annualized return over 5 years of 6.69% and an YTD return of 10.83%. Five years ago, it stood at $28,274.44.

One additional task we took on this year was looking over the donations data since 2007. We have had two campaigns in that time designed to create and bolster an endowment for the organization (the Development Fund and the Endowment Fund). I believe it is time that these funds be allocated in a separate bank account, similar to the Castañeda Prize, to be utilized in accordance to endowment practices (limited withdrawals designed to grow the fund and ensure long-term financial stability).  The total amounts of these campaigns are $8,495. This amount is currently available.

We all know the work of NACCS is important. As we see recognition of our field in places like California, we are also experiencing attacks on our community across the country. Thus, I call on you to support the organization. Please renew your membership and pay for registration to the conference. We know that conference budgets have been cut for most of us and we will continue to endeavor to provide a conference that is as economically accessible as possible, including negotiating cheaper hotel rooms for our members. Furthermore, if you have job vacancies in your departments, please encourage your schools to advertise with us. It will not only help NACCS, but provide our members with valuable opportunities to further their careers.

Link to Financial Report – Fiscal Year 2022-2023

Fall 2023, Vol. 49, No.1

Fiscal Year 2022-23

Fall 2023, Vol. 49 No. 1

by Julia E. Curry Rodríguez, Ph.D.- Executive Director, NACCS

As we prepare to host the 2024 Annual NACCS Conference in San Francisco, we want to share advice to folks who seek funding to attend.  NACCS is a member supported organization which relies upon dues and conference registration to host an annual conference in support of Chicana and Chicano Studies and all of the scholars who aspire to our academic pathways (students, community researchers, teachers, faculty, and academic professionals). NACCS does not have a budget to provide grants, funding, or economic resources to members and newcomers to attend the conference.  Here are some thoughts about how you might seek funding from your local community (institutions, clubs, organizations)

For students and non-students who submitted proposals and who are accepted to present at the conference the place to begin seeking funding is your own institution.  Most departments, units, and community-based employment offer some kind of professional development assistance. 

 For students who submitted proposals and who are accepted to present at the conference and live more than 100 miles from the conference site, we offer the opportunity to apply for a NACCS Student Presenter Conference Fellowship (one night at the conference hotel).  Students also have the opportunity to submit a research paper (as graduate and undergraduate students) to the Frederick A. Cervantes Student Premio.  We give two Cervantes Premios, one for a graduate student and one for an undergraduate student for outstanding research papers.  The Cervantes recipients present their papers at the annual conference Student Plenary and receive a cash prize of $350.00.

Every campus and many institutions (non-profits, schools, and other agencies) have centers and offices that can support individuals to engage in professional development through regular applications.  Many efforts might include meeting with directors, deans, provosts or other leadership/supervisory individuals.  Possible offices might be a College Dean or Association Dean, the Chair of your Department, the Director/VP of Student Affairs, or Academic Affairs leadership, a Graduate Dean/Office.  You may wish to start with your own department Chair/supervisor, advisers and professors.

To prepare for such a meeting begin by developing a paragraph about why you should be supported to attend the conference (tell them about NACCS) , how attending will support your academic and professional pathway.  Second, make up a budget that includes the following:  Membership dues, conference registration, travel, lodging, and meals.  Indicate on the budget what you can pay yourself.  I usually find that paying your membership (students at 30.00for undergraduate and 40.00 for graduate students) is usually something you can budget in your own finances- and most importantly shows your potential supporter that you have a commitment to NACCS.  If you submitted a proposal to present at NACCS, use that proposal to help you seek funding (provide the reader a copy).  Universities often ask for proof of professional development and the conference peer reviewed presentation is the golden mark.  Keep records of the paper, the program where your name will/appears in the conference and write something about the professional networking you engaged/will engage in at the conference).

Many universities and other institutions respond to a well-crafted request letter for professional development.  We encourage you to begin your statement with something about yourself and why NACCS is an academic organization which supports your endeavors.  To start your effort to find support go to your campus known supporters (people you already know).  Ask your professors, department chair, the dean, VP or Dean of Student Affairs, and your campus Student Government office – they always have discretionary funds which can be accessed by students through their regular financial assistance programs.  Explore funding options at your campus.

For University Students:  Regardless of type of institution you attend, most universities have budgets to support professional development to attend conferences whether you present on the program or not.  Institutions often advertise willingness to support students in their professional development on their websites and through announcements.  If asked, many offices might be able to help and to provide other campus leads to help you succeed in finding financial support to attend NACCS.

Student professional development is important to all academic institutions.    In your request letter, write a compelling reason to them about why they should support your attendance to NACCS as a means of addressing nationally recognized numbers of minorities in higher education.   “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) efforts and Hispanic Serving/Minority Serving Institutions Status require proof of support to minority faculty, staff, and students – professional development is one excellent opportunity to show this support.  Help your universities and colleges to showcase you in their endeavors.  Tell them your story. Offer to host a talk about your experiences at NACCS, and invite others to become familiar with the national and regional chapters (Focos) and Caucuses.  

Almost every region of the U.S. has a footprint of someone who has seen and used the NACCS conference, its newsletters, and programs to help build their programs/departments of Chicana and Chicano Studies so that Chicana/o/x people can thrive.  If you are involved in your local Foco, you might be able to request support from them – or offer to engage in fundraising activities in the Foco to help others attend the conference.  If you are not involved, contact them and find out if others in your region, at your campus might want to attend the conference and develop fundraising strategies together.  As Executive Director of NACCS I often get messages from students who employ a variety of efforts to raise money to attend the conference – and when they don’t meet their goal, they often ask for contact with students in other regions who might be willing to share lodging, or other resources.  Students do everything from having food sales, to seeking professional development funds from their campus student government office, using their clubs to seek resources for professional development, and finding professors to support their efforts.  Reach out locally and to the groups in which you are already involved.  Let them know your aspirations and see if they might be able to provide resources or even to join you in attending NACCS.   Offer to do recruiting at the conference – graduate offices are often willing to pay your travel and lodging.  Offer student affairs to serve as publicity for their offices.  

How we can help you:  Reach out with questions, and if you need an invoice for payment of your dues and/or registration, contact me at:  Julia.Curry@naccs.org and I will help you.  

Fall 2023, Vol. 49 No. 1

The past Foco Caucus Chairs were Dr. Sonia Hernandez and Dr. Peter Martinez, who completed their two-year term with the 2023 Tejas Foco conference.

Dr. Rosalva Resendiz, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, is the current Foco Caucus Chair for AY 23-24 and organized the Tejas Foco Conference at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2023, along with co-organizer Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto. The Foco Conference for 2023 was sponsored primarily by the UTRGV Department of Criminal Justice/Alpha Phi Sigma Honor Society, the UTRGV College of Education & P-16 Integration and the Provost’s Office which funded the conference through the Center for Mexican American Studies. The conference focused on “Confronting/Resisting the Colonizer Within: A History of Violence, Discrimination/Oppression & Shame,” and was held in the Brownsville campus, situated next to the Rio Grande River, from March 23^rd to March 25^th. The goal was to provide a space for decolonial discourse in an effort to help our communities heal and embrace our Indigeneity proudly.

NACCS Tejas Foco recognized scholarship and community through various awards. The winner for the Non-Fiction Book Award went to Cordelia E. Barrera, “The Haunted Southwest: Towards an Ethics of Place in Borderlands Literature; the Honorable Mention went to Elizabeth Farfan-Santos, “Undocumented Motherhood: Conversations of Love, Trauma & Border Crossing.” The Dissertation Award was won by Dr. Marlene Galvan with “Decolonial Rhetoric in Texas Borderland Gardens.” And the NACCS Tejas Letras de Aztlan Community Award recognized the community activism of Rosa San Luis & Border Workers United (formerly Fuerza Unida).

As part of decolonial praxis, we did not charge a fee for attendance to the conference and/or exhibits, and we provided lunch and dinner for attendees. We had various plenaries, beginning with “Celebrating Today’s Chicanx Leaders in Activism,” which included Dr. Guadalupe San Migel, Michelle Vallejo (Former Democratic Candidate for Congress District 15) and Jorge Renaud (National Criminal Justice Director for LatinoJustice PRLDEF). On Friday, we had our second plenary on “Fighting for Recognition! Erasure & Representation,” with Pepe Garcia Gilling, a local filmmaker, along with the actress Christel Klitbo Quiros and the actor Edumndo Isai Vargas representing Mexico’s Poder Prieto movement. On our last day, we held two plenaries: the first plenary focused on “Place, Memory & Community Resistance Through Art,” showcasing the art by Sandra C. Fernandez; and the closing plenary was sponsored by LatinoJustice, featuring their documentary “Bad Hombres.”

We had an attendance of around 350 people, with presenters coming from across Texas, as well as from California, Canada and Mexico. We also had sponsorship from LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas, and the Emilio Institute for Indigenous Responsibility, Rights and Research.

The upcoming 2024 Foco Conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas.

Fall 2023, Vol. 49 No. 1

The René Nuñez Political Action Caucus of NACCS is informing the membership that we have initiated contact with PEN America to seek to join as Amicus filers, or “Friend of the Court,” in their lawsuit against recent book banning in Florida.  Our Caucus sent a letter to PEN America, attached as “PEN America Amicus NACCS Letter,” dated December 22, 2023.  We are doing so with the approval of the NACCS Board.  PEN America is recognized as a significant national organization championing freedom of expression.  As they state, “PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide.” (https://pen.org/about-us/.)  

Our René Nuñez Political Action Caucus considers the outbreak of recent and current book bans across the country as an ominous threat against Chicana/o Studies and the publications of our academic discipline, from Kindergarten through higher education.  In our research about such book bans, especially in school districts, it became clear to us that Chicana/o Studies publications are a major target of such bans.  Among their other manifestations, we see such book bans as a violation of our First Amendment right to “freedom of speech” and our Fourteenth Amendment right to “equal protection” and “due process,” interpretations we share with PEN America.

PEN America, along with the publisher Penguin Random House, filed a lawsuit against book banning, specifically in Florida, which we seek to join as Amicus filers.  As we stated in our letter of interest to PEN America, “We applaud the current lawsuit, filed May 17, 2023, by PEN America Center and Random House, et. al., against Florida’s Escambia County School District and the Escambia County School Board due to their recent and ongoing book banning campaign and actions” (See “Lawsuit in Florida Case No. 3:23-cv-10385”).  Section “H” of that lawsuit states, against the Escambia School District and its Board, “Defendants Disproportionately Target Books by Minority and LGBTQ Authors or Books Addressing Themes Involving Race and LGBTQ Identity.”  For example, paragraph 137 states, “Of the 10 Removed Books by the School Board, 6 have authors who are non-white and/or identify as LGBTQ, while 9 address themes relating to race or LGBTQ identity, or feature prominent non-white and/or LGBTQ characters.”  Of the larger list of targeted books, as paragraph 197 notes, “approximately 40% have authors who are non-white and/or identify as LGBTQ, while approximately 60% address themes relating to race or LGBTQ identity” (pages 45-46).   

As such book banning has spread, our Caucus can project the damage such prohibitions will cause to Chicana/o Studies and other Ethnic Studies.  For example, as we addressed in our outreach letter to PEN America, in 2019, the Colorado Legislature passed the bill HB19-1192, requiring Multicultural Studies or Ethnic Studies in K-12, which requires both cultural infusion and a graduation requirement class in the subjects. The preamble paragraph for HB19-1192, “Inclusion of American Minorities in Teaching Civil Government,” reads in part:

Concerning the inclusion of matters relating to American minorities in the teaching of social contributions in civil government in public schools, and… to include the history, culture, and social contributions of American Indians, Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals within these minority groups… and the intersectionality of significant social and cultural features within these communities (Colorado HB19-1192). 

The decisions by Florida’s Escambia County School District and its School Board to ban books which “have been focused disproportionately on minority and LGBTQ authors and/or books that pursue themes related to minority or LGBTQ identity” would essentially lead to banning the entirety of the Colorado State Legislature’s HB19-1192 legislative bill, along with similar bills in additional states. 

NACCS has a history of joining significant lawsuits to protect our community and our Chicana/o Studies discipline.  As our attached letter to PEN America explains in some detail, NACCS joined as Amicus filer against Colorado’s 1992 anti-GLB rights (not noted as GLBTQIA at the time) Amendment 2, which was successfully defeated at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

NACCS also successfully joined as amici in a 2012 case in Arizona, where in 2007 the Tucson Unified School District established a Mexican-American Studies program, noting that “ethnic studies programs are designed to be culturally relevant—to help students see themselves in the curriculum and make them see why education is important for them” (JSTOR Daily, Livia Gershon, July 22, 2017).  However, by 2010, “State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne authored a ban on ethnic studies, HB 2281, following a controversy over the Chicano, or Mexican-American, studies program in the Tucson public schools.”  This bill, House Bill 2281, was approved by the Arizona State Legislature in 2010 and signed by Governor Jan Brewer.  It terminated the entire program of Mexican-American Studies in the Tucson School District, thereby also banning the books that had been at the core of the curriculum for the program.  

As a result of the main lawsuit against Arizona’s HB 2281 that banned the Mexican-American Studies program, the state statute was found to be illegal because it violated the students’ U.S. Constitutional rights, with the ban running from 2010-2017: “’An Arizona law banning ethnic studies violated students’ constitutional rights,’ [according to] a federal judge….   ‘Both enactment and enforcement were motivated by racial animus’….” (NPR, “Federal Judge Finds Racism Behind Arizona Law Banning Ethnic Studies,” August 22, 2017). 

The René Nuñez Political Action Caucus will keep the NACCS Membership apprised of any possible further action.  Please note that as supporting documents, we are attaching below our outreach letter to PEN America as well as a NACCS Press Release and a NACCS Declaration, which we have also provided to PEN America.   

 Sincerely, 

Dr. Raoul Contreras, Chair, René Núñez Political Action Caucus, NACCS

Dr. Reynaldo Macias, Executive Committee, René Núñez Political Action Caucus

Dr. Luis Torres, Executive Committee, René Núñez Political Action Caucus

Dr. Manuel Hernandez, Executive Committee, René Núñez Political Action Caucus

Dr. Karleen Pendleton Jimenez, Executive Committee, René Núñez Political Action Caucus

Bernadine Marie Hernández for Border Bodies: Racialized Sexuality, Sexual Capital, and Violence in the Nineteenth-Century Borderlands (The University of North Carolina Press, 2022)

Reviewers Comments:

As Hernández states in her introduction, “This study is multi-genre and interdisciplinary at its core. I investigate moments of gender and sexual violence in the U.S. borderlands from 1834 to 1912,” relying on “a range of previously unconnected archival materials—court cases, testimonies, letters, narratives, photographs, maps, newspapers, editorials, and other historical documents—to reveal a discourse of violence toward certain poor, racialized, female bodies in the borderlands that has become normalized in dominant histories, literary narratives, and imaginaries” (3-4).  Hernández’ use of such a wide and challenging range of documents and background sources provides a wealth of information from a diversity of evidence.  How Hernández “connects” the previously “unconnected” sources to such great effect demonstrates one of the principal qualities which elevates this work to the stature of the NACCS Book of the Year Award.

(Hernández’) work reflects Rosaura Sánchez’ influence, and it is evident that she does not merely throw in “class” as intersectionality, but actually attempts to use political economy and historical dialectical materialism by analyzing class elites-bourgeois, and sex-workers in regards to an emergent capitalist economic mode over near a century (not only recognizing class structure within the Mexican communities of the time, but integrating it into the analysis regarding differential roles and effects in transition to an Anglo-dominated United States).

Honorable Mention:

Natalia Molina for A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community (University of California Press, 2022)

Awards Review Committee:

Dr. Raynoldo F. Macías, Professor Emeritus, UCLA

Dr. Luis Torres, Professor, Metro State University Colorado

Dr. Maria C. Gonzalez, Asso. Professor, University of Houston

by Maria C. Gonzelez, NACCS Chair

Dear NACCS members:

Let me begin by welcoming our newly elected Chair-Elect, Dr. Deena Gonzalez, a long-time member of NACCS and internationally recognized historian, and our newly elected At Large Representative, Dr. Jennifer Gomez Menjivar from the University of North Texas in the field of Media Arts, to the NACCS Board of Directors.  We welcome them both and are thrilled to have them as part of the leadership.

And now for some exciting news, if all goes well, we will finally get to meet again in person in Denver in early spring.  Included in this newsletter is the call for papers for our annual conference.  The title, “Work, Sustainability, and Resilience in the Post-Pandemic,” represents the concerns many of us have now that we have to navigate a historical moment we have never been a part of.  Please review the call and submit.  We have changed the deadline date for the NACCS proposal from our usual mid-October date to November 15 (this is an exception and only for this year).  I encourage everyone to prepare their proposals and submit them.  The proposal link is here: https://www.naccs.org/naccs/Submit.asp. 

Directing your attention to our finance report in this newsletter, I thank our outgoing treasurer, Ernesto Colon, and our incoming treasurer, Francisco Villegas, for their work in getting this report done and ready for our membership.  We begin our new fiscal year in fair shape but remain financially fragile.  Please get your membership in for the 2022-23 year.  As you may remember from our previous communications (Membership meeting, 4-23-22; Greetings, 7-19-22), we have moved our calendar year membership dates to reflect our actual fiscal year.  All memberships run July 1 to June 30.  So currently, most of us need to renew our memberships now.

Currently, the Board is working on planning and preparing for this coming year.  As our organization is now 50 years-old and we need to periodically review our processes, I have recommended, and the Board has approved an ad-hoc committee to review our governance practices and our organizational structure.  The chair will be our immediate Past-Chair, Roberto Hernandez, who will lead this self-study of NACCS.  Over the next year, Roberto and his committee will review and prepare a written report with recommendations for the governance of our organization.  Once that report is completed, we will be ready to commit to an external review of NACCS.

In reviewing our membership records and finances, I also recommended, and the Board has approved an ad-hoc committee on membership.  Currently because of Covid and our inability to meet in person, our membership is at approximately 200 paid members.  William Calvo-Quiros has kindly agreed to chair an ad-hoc membership committee to work on getting our numbers up.  I hope to have recommendations from that committee in approximately six months.

Finally, I look forward to seeing everyone in Denver in early spring of 2023.

Fall 2022 – Vol. 48. No. 1

The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies announces its annual Frederick A. Cervantes Student Premio. NACCS seeks submissions from Undergraduate and Graduate scholars. Submissions must contribute to Chicana and Chicano Studies, an interdisciplinary area of study. Papers will be judged on: their contribution to the field of Chicana and Chicano Studies; strength of scholarship (e.g., how well researched and/or theoretically well-developed they are); and originality. Composition and style will also be considered. The Premio carries a monetary honorarium of $350.00, the opportunity to submit the paper for publication review in the NACCS proceedings, and the opportunity to present the paper at the annual meetings.

COMPETITION/SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Participants must be enrolled at an institution of higher education and be members of NACCS. To join the association, complete a membership submission.

The first page must be a cover page with the title and student designation. Since this is a blind read your name should not appear in the following pages. Authors must follow appropriate writing manual guidelines, e.g. APA, MLA or Chicago Manual of Style. Papers must be fully referenced, typed, double-spaced and use a 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Manuscript must be in a MICROSOFT WORD FORMAT and must not exceed 25 pages.

Although we are asking for an electronic submission note that any submission received that does not meet the above specifications will be automatically disqualified. Submissions must be emailed by November 13. Papers that arrive after this date will not be considered. Attach your file and email to cervantes@naccs.org.

NOTIFICATION OF AWARD
Notification will be issued prior to the conference. Awards will be announced during the NACCS conference. We encourage students to seek faculty mentorship in preparing their papers. Please contact the chair if you have any questions at cervantes@naccs.org if you have any questions about the guidelines or how to seek mentorship in preparing your submissions.

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This award is named for Frederick A. Cervantes, one of the first Chicano political scientists and a pioneer in the development of Chicano Studies. The award honors him for his scholarly work and for his commitment to students and student research.  Cervantes was a member of NACS [sic] in early years of the association. Cervantes received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1976. His dissertation was entitled “An interpretation of J.V. Stalin’s political thought.” Originally from Texas, Cervantes returned and held a faculty position in Corpus Christi at the University. On March 22, 1986, he was killed by a drunk driver in a motorcycle accident.

Fall 2022 – Vol. 48. No. 1